Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
A Facebook post claimed to be a statement by the former US envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue regarding the "partition of Kosovo".
"Richard Grenell: 'I didn't go to the PDK and LDK offices to tell them to divide Kosovo, but they came to my office in Berlin and told me that we are ready to divide Kosovo'", is the inscription on an image of Grenell, published by the "Diaspora with Albin" page on Facebook.
The truth?
A similar claim has been addressed in the past by hybrid.info. In July, the member of the leadership of the “Guxo” party, Luan Gacaferi, had published the claim on Facebook. Hibrid.info had found that his reaction had referred to an opinion of the publicist Veton Surroi. Gacaferi had even manipulated Surroi's article, mentioning the division of Kosovo, which Surroi did not emphasize, in the referenced part.
Part from writing of Veton Surroi:
"Donald Trump didn't wake up one morning and decide to overthrow the Kosovo government; a number of Kosovo officials went to his ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, and told him they were willing to overthrow the government in order to reach the historic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia."
Based on this opinion expressed by Surroi, Gacaferi wrote another status on Facebook, where he presented this opinion as a statement coming from Richard Grenell (see here).
And the claim of the page "Diaspora with Albin" is the same as this status of Gacaferi.
Hibrid.info has researched using the search engine, "Google", but has not found credible sources confirming that the statement was made by the former American ambassador (see here).
Grenell, in addition to being the envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue in the first term of US President Donald Trump, was also the US ambassador to Germany.
Days earlier, Trump, who was re-elected as US president, announced that he had selected Grenell as a presidential envoy for special missions. (details)
Context:
Hibrid.info has found a similar public statement by former Secretary of National Security in the Trump administration, John Bolton, who stated that the exchange of territories, an idea that was being discussed as a final solution for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, had been proposed by the leaders of these two countries (see here).
Analyze:
The claim that former US envoy Richard Grenell said that officials from two political parties, PDK and LDK, had come to his office to show their willingness to partition Kosovo, is untrue.
Hibrid.info has found that the claim represents the opinion of publicist Veton Surroi, which was presented as fact by member of the "Guxo" Party, Luan Gacaferi, and now this July post has also been published by the "Diaspora me Albinin" page on Facebook.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the publication of the "Diaspora with Albin" page on Facebook as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.